On Mesoamerican Literacies: Two Examples of How the Ayöök Read the World

This article reflects upon literacies that are encoded in the landscape and in natural forms, and which describe a different relation between humans and the environment. It criticises the Eurocentric biases that have equated literacy to writing and promoted the opposition of literate vs. oral societies. Although there has been a turn toward considering literacies to be multi-diverse social practices, education policies worldwide still push for a functional literacy that favours written languages, alienation from nature, and bureaucratisation. The focus of this work is on the Mesoamerican territory, which has experienced systemic dismantling of Indigenous literacies and implemented models that are functional to the rhetoric of modernity and coloniality. Two examples from the Ayöök people are described. These are presages, which are experienced through seeing, hearing, and sensing outside in nature, and maize reading, which is a divinatory practice using seeds. These examples show that the natural world can provide clearly defined signs that are read with consequent affects and effects on bodies and future actions. By acknowledging these literacies and becoming aware that this is a politically sensitive issue for Indigenous peoples, this paper argues for a possible way to change our present harmful relation with nature

Publishing & Supporting the Academic

Editorial for the General Issue 6 (number 1) 2024, entitled \u27 Publishing & the Supporting the Academic\u27; written by David Allan, Judith Enrioquez, and Craig Hammon

Exploring the impact of Visual Impairment Awareness Training: Phenomenographic Research with PGCE Secondary Art & Design Trainees

Post Graduate Certificate of Education (PGCE) secondary art and design trainees participated in visual impairment awareness training (VIAT), prior to facilitating an art education project for visually impaired (VI) pupils. This was designed to better prepare them for working with a range of learners. A phenomenographic methodology and research approach was adopted – to capture key data relevant to learning, gaining knowledge and understanding in education settings. This contributed to knowledge in the field, highlighting the shift in trainees perspectives towards working with VI pupils, as a consequence of participation in VIAT. Existing literature recognises that VIAT provides an understanding of VI but cannot replicate everyday experiences. The findings as part of this study indicate that initially an empathy response was evoked, as trainees were apprehensive about working with VI pupils. Following VIAT, trainees gained a superficial overview of VI. Having gained experience, an advocacy response was evoked as trainees felt more comfortable asking pupils how their needs could be met

Catch it, drop it, leave it there: Writing for Wellbeing as a tool for compassionate practice in Higher Education

This is the story of a series of writing workshops with four undergraduate final year students, in a non-formal, non-graded, non-curriculum space. Students were introduced to ‘writing for wellbeing’ (WfW), using expressive writing strategies adapted from poetry/bibliotherapy practice. Initially intended as a research method for their dissertation projects, the writing workshops evolved into a significant creative space for the students’ own personal development. Shared reflections about our experience of writing together sheds light on the broader potential of WfW as a participatory research method, and as a compassionate approach for writing the self in higher education

Reimagining adult learning in community-based contexts: A framework for social justice education in Australia

In Australia, there is no one cohesive program design or curriculum which provides a framework for adult learning in Adult Community Education (ACE) organisations, with the two major states New South Wales (NSW) and Victoria leading the most developed systems. Many adult learners who learn in these education settings return to study to find pathways to employment, or to re-train for a new role after losing their job. In addition, later-life learners may attend because they want to remain healthy, participate in leisure activities, build friendships and remain active and engaged in their later years. Many of the learners are ‘second chance learners’ who have had prior negative experiences with the neoliberal system which assesses, ranks, and categorises learners according to their academic abilities. In this paper, we propose a comprehensive framework for the delivery of pre-accredited training in Australia, founded on social constructivist theory, learner-centred pedagogy, and course design enhanced by Nussbaum’s Capability Framework. We commence the article by delivering a context for adult education policy and social justice education in the development of the ACE system. What we mean by a socially just education is one in which all people access a critical and democratic curriculum with equity and access to resources at its core. In this paper, we argue for the importance of adult learning, which is holistic, flexible, and nimble to cater for diverse learners and learning needs. Social justice education of this kind, delivered to diverse learners, requires a comprehensive epistemological and theoretical framework for practice that considers learners’ prior experiences of learning, one which accounts for learners’ existing knowledge, skills and experiences and education that provides well-developed pathways to further education and training

Employability and Assessment: How ’blogs’ can diversify the assessment diet and enhance transferable skills

Shifts in the Higher Education sector over the past decade have seen greater numbers of applicants than ever before entering university. As undergraduate cohorts have expanded, a diverse student body has emerged, with a rich and complex array of learning needs, desires and expectations. At the same time, public discourse around higher education has changed significantly, and particularly following the introduction and increase of tuition fees, this has led to an emphasis on programmes being seen to provide value for money; a value for money that is being increasingly measured via the metric of graduate employment outcomes. As a result, universities are being pushed to find new ways to ensure that students leave their degree programmes with the kinds of transferable skills necessary to succeed in a contemporary job market that, following shifts in working patterns introduced during the Covid 19 pandemic, values flexibility, and adaptation. This case study – using blogging as a summative assessment at Level 6 of an ‘Events’ Management programme – illustrates that engagement, criticality, and relevance can be successfully incorporated, providing students with a key skill directly relevant to industry.

Editorial: From Social Justice to Educational Justice: Challenging Practice, and Finding Hope

The purpose of this Special Issue is to explore, expose and energise issues around the concepts of social justice and education. We recognise that the notion of ‘social justice’ is not static, and is not shaped in a vacuum; it is iterative by nature, and flows across generations and contexts. The multiple historical and ideological perspectives that arise from this flow include education theory, research, and practice. These positionings offer deep insights into the purpose of education; they also raise important questions: are the social and ideological dynamics a force for challenging the status quo, and for rupturing cycles of inequity or perpetuating inequality? Do they interrupt the relations of dominance and subordination

The Slow Learner: Feeling our way to Thinking about Lifelong Learning

This article is a critique of the current formal education system as a construct for consumerism, where the value of learning is geared towards increasingly limited instrumentalist ends. It considers alternative ways of educating the population to prepare for a century of disruption and upheaval as we transition from an unsustainable fossil fuel-based economy, where competition and acquisition are lauded to a less frenetic, but ultimately more egalitarian reflective future. It argues against the short-term myopia of credentialism, determined by election cycle politics and competitive advantage, and instead posits a humanistic vision for community education and teaching innovation that takes the longue durée regard of the history of human relations into account. Accepting Gellner’s exo-socialisation model for mass education in the industrial age, it asks what will replace this in a post-industrial world. Beginning with the principles of widening participation and social inclusion as the starting points for a socially just education, it argues that relationships are central for emancipatory education to take effect. It uses two programmes offered by Maynooth University’s Department of Adult and Community Education, the Communiversity and the Critical Skills modules: A Social Analysis of Everyday Life, as examples of programmes that have inclusion, equality and diversity, and social justice as core principles in their modus operandi. Here participation, dialogue, reflection, and a willingness to engage offer hope for an intergenerational lifelong learning approach to education in the twenty-first century that is ‘thought led’ rather than ‘market driven’

The strands of the Forest School implementation challenges: A literature review

The literature proposes that Forest School, which is a form of outdoor and environmental education, can improve the children’s overall wellbeing. Yet, the implementation of this promising and distinctive educational concept can be hindered by several barriers. In this paper, I draw on relevant resources to introduce the main obstacles to the implementation of Forest School and the factors that could mitigate them. Four criteria guided the selection of the resources: a) the source, type, and content of the paper, (b) the subject matter, (c) the publication date, and (d) the publication language. The present review of literature yielded five main Forest School implementation challenges encompassing the (1) adults’ risk perceptions and attitudes associated with Forest School outdoor activities; (2) meeting curriculum and stakeholders’ expectations; (3) cost and logistical difficulties; (4) finding an appropriate site and using the facilities, and (5) the administrative work. I then juxtapose these challenges with relevant literature, present various mitigating factors, and introduce some implications of this work for research and practice.  &nbsp